Question

An unlit match is held near (not touching) a Bunsen flame. The match doesn't get hot enough to light because
a. the flame is not hot enough
b. air is a bad conductor of heat
c. the matchhead reflects radiation
d. the flame does not radiate any heat sideways

Answer 1

I think a. My reason would be that I remember from my physics classes there were 3 settings on a bunsen burner. With the air hole fully closed, there isn't any additional oxygen being fed into the flame, therefore, the orange flame isn't radiating enough heat to ignite the match.

Answer 2

i m not sure which option but a match stick is basically made in such a way that it is not suppose to ignite up jst in a little heated condition.If it is like that then a match stick could light up and catch fire in hot conditions and cause fires which is not what we want.
The match stick lights up when we strike it to the match box and the friction creates heat energy and it lights up and a match stick would also light up if it touched the flame from the bunsens burner.Hence i guess the match stick is made in such a way to light up only when in contact like.... Hence i guess it reflects radiation.Option C

Answer 3

Good point Sriram, but that would only apply to safety matches (of which I understand most probably are nowadays). some of the strike-anywhere matches are by nature more volatile. In any rate, you're probably right :)

Answer 4

The answer is b) air is a bad conductor of heat
(Besides hot air rises up carrying the heat with it...)

Answer 5

@Sriram: Your whole explanation is about not-enough-heat but then you answered with (c) :s

@Harkirat: Your explanation is about (d), isn't it?

Answer 6

@ AR
no it is about b)
every hot body radiates heat all around itself but this radiated heat is not enough to bring the match-head to its ignition temperature
I am talking from the "conduction" point of view, air does not "conduct" heat...

Answer 7

Oh right.

Answer 8

got a GOOD ANSWER click for me .....☺

Answer 9

Um idk. abc all seem correct! >.<

Answer 10

c) and d) are clearly wrong...........
a) also is wrong because even at its lowest setting, Bunsen burner flame is hot enough to light the matchstick...

so only correct choice is b)

Answer 11

The match head does not reflect radiation?

Answer 12

it is not a question of whether it does or not.....it actually does
thing is whether this has a major bearing on the fact that the match stick does not burn.

How much heat do you think the tiny match-stick head can reflect???

Answer 13

So because air is a bad conductor, it only lets a small amount of heat to reach the match head, which then is small enough to be reflected?